BLT Pasta Salad
Crispy bacon crumbled over cold whole wheat penne, creamy avocado, halved cherry tomatoes, and 126 grams of frozen garden peas that cook in under three minutes. The dressing is yogurt, mayo, raw garlic, and a squeeze of lemon — tangy enough to hold its own against the bacon fat.
One bowl, 15 minutes, and 20 grams of fiber from three different sources. The pasta gets a cold rinse straight after draining, the peas get the same treatment, and everything meets the iceberg lettuce at room temperature. 710 calories and 29 grams of protein with no reheating required.
Ingredients
- whole wheat penne 2 oz
- frozen garden peas 4.5 oz
- bacon 3 slices
- cherry tomatoes 6
- avocado 0.5
- red onion 0.25
- garlic 1 clove
- iceberg lettuce 2 handfuls
- nonfat yogurt 1 tbsp
- mayonnaise 1 tbsp
- lemon juice 1 squeeze
Method
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Boil the whole wheat penne in salted water until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool completely.
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Boil the frozen garden peas for 2–3 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.
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Fry the bacon slices in a pan until crispy. Let cool on a paper towel, then crumble or chop into pieces.
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Halve the cherry tomatoes. Dice the avocado. Finely chop the red onion and mince the garlic.
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In a large bowl, combine the cooled penne, peas, bacon, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and torn iceberg lettuce.
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In a small bowl, mix the nonfat yogurt, mayonnaise, minced garlic, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
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Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently. Serve immediately.
Run the coldest water you can over the pasta for a full 30 seconds after draining. Cooling cooked starch triggers a structural shift called retrogradation, where some of the easily digestible starch reorganizes into resistant starch. Research published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Robertson et al., 2021) found this changes the glycemic profile of the same portion of pasta. In a cold salad like this one, the pasta never gets reheated, so the resistant starch stays intact through the meal.
Why This Works
Behind this recipe
Why does the recipe rinse the pasta under cold water?
Two reasons. The obvious one: cold pasta salad needs cold pasta. The less obvious one: when cooked starch cools, some of it reorganizes into a tighter structure called resistant starch. Research found that this structural change alters the glycemic profile of the same portion of pasta. Because this salad is served cold and never reheated, that resistant starch stays intact through the entire meal. The resistant starch Short breaks down exactly how much changes and why.
Read the full evidence reviewCan I use fresh peas instead of frozen?
Fresh garden peas work if you can find them. The frozen peas here are flash-frozen within hours of harvest, which locks in nutrients at peak ripeness. Research on frozen versus fresh-stored vegetables found that frozen peas retained more vitamin C than peas that had been sitting in a fridge for several days. If your fresh peas were picked that morning, they are great. If they have been in a store display for a few days, frozen may actually deliver more.
Where does the 20 grams of fiber come from?
Three sources. The whole wheat penne contributes fiber from the intact bran layer. The frozen garden peas at 126 grams are one of the highest-fiber vegetables per serving. And the half avocado adds both soluble and insoluble fiber. Combined, they push this single salad to 20 grams, which is a meaningful portion of daily intake. The fiber and weight loss Short covers the meta-analysis behind the daily fiber threshold researchers found significant.
